Kids Easter Activities

Last week I left Pat and the kids and took off for six days to attend a wedding in Colombia! (Yes, in South America! It was incredible! I promise a post is coming soon!) It wasn’t until Sunday that I realized Easter was a week away and panicked for a minute. I didn’t have anything planned.

Today my boys asked if we were going to do anything fun this week, so I quickly planned a couple of simple activities throughout the week and thought I’d share. They are low budget and super simple to throw together real fast.

Simple Bunny Masks

We grabbed:

• white pipe cleaners (3 for each child)
• popsicle sticks (1 for each child)
• cotton balls (1 for each child)
• white paper to cut out teeth
• Elmer’s Glue
• scissors
• a Pink Dot Marker (If you don’t have some of these, you should! My kids love them!)

1. We wrapped the pipe cleaners around the popsicle sticks and secured them with a little Elmer's glue.
2. I drew the shape of the teeth and had the boys cut them out.
3. We colored the tops of the cotton balls.
4. We glued on the teeth and cotton balls.

So simple and fun! And my boys were cracking up over them.

Exercise Easter Egg Hunt

I have about a billion Easter eggs stored away in a bin and decided an egg hunt this week would be fun,  but I didn’t want to fill them with candy… (We still have Halloween candy sitting in the cupboard) So I was looking for something other than sweets to fill the eggs with. With three boys I thought burning off some energy might be fun so here’s a simple Easter Egg Hunt Filled With Fun Exercises that kids will enjoy.

Print a couple copies and you’ll be ready to go! I’m already thinking of fun ways to twist this in my mind and am confident that it will make for a fun afternoon.

Happy Easter, enjoy!

Four Little Masterpieces

Just after Preslee passed away, I remember taking down her picture that she finger painted on. It was hanging on the fridge and was a cruel reminder of what was missing. Over the past five years, it has been one of my favorite items we have of hers. (Read about it here)

At age two, I had Ledge finger paint his own masterpiece. He refused to touch the paint, and I was so sleep deprived after just having the twins that I poured in cornmeal instead of cornstarch… but in the end, the cornmeal gave his picture a neat texture. :) I kept his filed away for the past two years.

Last week, we braved finger painting for the first time since Cannon and Cruiz were born. Ledger couldn’t remember doing it, so it was new for all three boys. (All my art projects seemed to stop after having twins!) Ledger dove right in, and the twins weren’t quite sure. In the end, it was definitely worth the work.

(Good thing its edible :)

Tip: I swear, the only way to do finger painting is to cover the table with wax paper, and let the kids go crazy! Once they are finished, dip their paper in their painting on the table. Clean up is just folding up the wax paper, throwing it away, and wiping down anywhere their grubby little fingers have touched. Much easier than painting an entire table.

Once their artwork dried, I made a trip to IKEA and bought four matching frames. I’m in love with the final product! I love anything that includes Preslee, so having all four next to each other is a sweet reminder what lies ahead for us in the future. Hopefully one day we’ll have a playroom to hang these in, but for now, I squeezed them in upstairs.

 

These just might be my favorite pieces of art in our home.

Be still my heart.

Edible Finger Paint
Pour 1 cup of cold water and 1 cup of flour into a pan. Gradually add 3 cups of boiling water to the mix. Stir over heat until it boils. Take off the heat and let it cool. Then divide the mixture into bowls and add food coloring. Store in airtight container.

Thanksgiving Activity: Apple Turkeys

Last year my SIL busted out an activity in minutes and it was a huge hit with the kids. Today I was a little desperate for something to help me entertain my kids, so I grabbed a couple of apples, a few toothpicks, and some finger foods, and repeated the activity.

Apple Turkeys

Supplies

• apples
• toothpicks
• finger foods, I used cheerios, raisins, cheese, and goldfish. Ledger wanted to add feet afterward, so we added popcorn for feet, but the turkey was eaten before I snapped a pic showing the feet :)

Stick four toothpicks on the top of each apple, throw the finger foods in separate bowls and let the kids go to town with it. Let them snack on the food while they do it :) My twins who were too young to participate on their own had fun handing me each item from their tray and watching me put it on the toothpicks.

Oh, the mask…Batman (AKA Cannon) wears that mask the majority of each day and it was not coming off just to make turkeys. He really did wear it the entire time. :) 

Ledger had just as much fun picking the turkey apart and eating gobbling it right up!

I hope your kids enjoy it as much as mine did.

Letter Recognition: Alphabet Train

After graduating with a degree in Elementary Education, I appreciate a good file folder game, especially when kids can play with little effort expected on my part. Ledger, my three year old, knows each letter in the alphabet, but I’ve noticed he struggles with a few lower case letters, (Most books are all capital letters). When my friend posted an image similar to this on instagram, I knew I needed to recreate it into a file folder game and make a few changes to help with capital and lower case letter recognition. I also added an extra set of wheels to help with reading in the future :)

 Alphabet Train

What You Need:
9 Pieces of cardstock or construction paper (I let Ledger pick the colors)
Velcro dots
Black marker
Scissors
Somewhere to laminate each boxcar/wheels and train
Tape
The two printables posted below in the box app

• Cut 4 pieces of construction paper in half and write three CAPITAL letters on each half, (Only two letters will be left on the last boxcar). Save a little room below each letter to fit the velcro dots.
• Print the wheels printable from below, write lower case letters on each wheel. (I used three different colors for the wheels) I also wrote one word starting with each letter for when Ledger begins reading. Three pieces of paper was enough to do both.
• I had a few wheels left over so I added each member’s name of our family. If I did it again, I’d leave a few empty for back ups, we’ve already lost the “i”.  
• Print the black train, also shared below.
• Laminate the train, each box car, and three wheel pages. (I figured I’d laminate it if I was going to put the work into it. My boys are so rough, I knew it would be destroyed after one use).

• Cut out the train, box cars, and wheels. Add a velcro dot under each capital letter on the boxcars, and on the back of each wheel.
• Tape the train and each boxcar on the wall and you’re ready to go!

I love this File Folder game because it really does challenge my three year old. He can sing the alphabet song, and recognize every capital letter, but has rarely seen the entire alphabet listed in front of him and it takes him a minute to find some of the letters. When he matches a wheel to each letter, we practice the different sounds each letter makes.

 (He was thrilled to find his name)

When we’re finished I pack it up into a vanilla file folder and put it in the bin with the other file folder games we have. It makes it easy to rotate games so Ledger doesn’t get sick of the games

.

Enjoy!

Toddler Activities…Trucks!

I’m always looking for ideas to keep Ledger busy. It seems like the web is filled with millions of idea’s for girls, and not as many for boys. So this is for all of you with boys who love trucks as much as my toddler does!

After bringing the twins home, there have been soo many times when I needed something to entertain/distract Ledger so I could focus on the babies for a little bit. I wanted the activity to be hands on, rather than more TV. My SIL, Cara, came to the rescue with this simple idea, and it’s become one of Ledger’s favorites. I don’t let him play with it too often, it’s used more as a reward or when I’m simply desperate. Therefore, he’s always REALLY excited to play with it.

 At first, I was hesitant to put this together. I was afraid the rice would make a bigger mess than it would be worth, but it hasn’t been that big of a problem. (I warn Ledger if he makes too big of a mess, it goes back up into the closet) And shortly after I took these pictures, I started laying an old sheet down, and having Ledger play on top of it. When he’s finished, I shake the rice outside. Easy cleanup :) But I’m amazed at how long Ledger will play with these trucks.

Graduating in Elementary Education, I learned the importance of sensory activities. Ledger loves the feel of the rice.

 

 

The best part is it has a lid, and when he’s finished, it goes right back up in the closet and is ready for next time.

What you need to make your own:

• 1 large container (preferably with a lid)
• A few mini construction trucks. (I bought these for only $5.88. They’re also at Walmart or the same price)
• Rice, beans, anything you want to fill it. (I used rice)

Fill your container with rice, add the trucks, and let your toddler go crazy!

Free Printable: Blank Cartoon Faces

Anyone else looking for activities to keep their toddler busy this winter?

I was looking for some toys in the basement when I stumbled across these blank cartoon faces my SIL Cara sent me.

I originally printed them off for Preslee, but she passed away before she was old enough to use them. Ledger and I played with them last week and they were a huge hit!

Each face prints off onto an 8x10 and after after being laminated, toddlers can use play dough to make faces on them, or use dry erase markers to draw on them.

(We of course couldn’t leave Woody out)

(Pog wanted in on the action as well!)

Ledger loves playing with them, and giggles every time he names a face after someone he knows.

Click here to print your own blank cartoon faces.